Raising a flag, Raising awareness

The Kern County field office in Ridgecrest rose two flags on a brisk Friday morning: the national flag and one to remember the children who died as a result of child abuse both in the county and across the United States.

The Kern County field office in Ridgecrest rose two flags on a brisk Friday morning: the national flag and one to remember the children who died as a result of child abuse both in the county and across the United States.

Kern County, the Navy at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the City of Ridgecrest all joined forces to show that the act of child abuse would not be tolerated, an element that many speakers drove home during the brief ceremony.

Burroughs High's Cadet Band, led by Simon Austin, performed the National Anthem the flag raising.

"Today is critically important to all of us, young, old and in between, military and civilian, men and women," said First Supervisor Mick Gleason. "Sadly, child abuse is a social fact and often results in serious injury or sometimes death before it is discovered."

All four council members were present, as were Burroughs High School Principle David Ostash, Capt. Scott Fisher, commanding officer of VX-9 at China Lake, and Cmdr. Matt Jackson, executive officer of NAWS China Lake, as well as members of the public.

Gleason said it was important for people to take that fact with them when they left the ceremony, and that people be a voice for those too young to defend themselves.

"This flag will not be here every day, but it will be here today, and it is here for us to recognize the problems we face as a culture," he said. "Child abuse should not be tolerated by any society and we need to be the leaders to ensure that our children our protected."

Gleason drove one overall message for those gathered on the lawn that day.

"Child abuse will not be tolerated in Ridgecrest, Kern County or the United States, period," he said.

The supervisor said that in 2012 alone, 244 reported cases were reported in Ridgecrest, with one death and one near-death.

Mayor Clark shared his experience as a former educator and the fact that he had been a mandated reporter of child abuse scenarios.

"In my mind, we all must be mandated reporters in the area of child abuse," Clark said.

Clark said it was essential, given the 3.4 million cases reported nationally affecting 6 million children, with five children dead a day because of the incident.

Dena Murphy, chief deputy director of Kern County's Department of Human Resources, painted a picture of the flag flying next the U.S. flag.

"The children's memorial flag is a simple moving image," Murphy said. "You can see the bright blue dolls of five children standing side-by-side holding hands against a red backdrop. The sixth child in the middle is represented by a thin chalk outline symbolizing a child lost to violence."

Page 2 of 2 - The design, she said, was the creation of a 16-year-old girl in Alameda County.

"In this community, the child in the middle has a name and his name is Travion," Murphy said. "In 2012, Kern County lost him along with four other children as a result of child abuse and all of them were under the age of four."

She said it was critical that people turn any report if people suspected a serious issue.

"This flag campaign has already drawn national attention and today as we gather here to pause and memorialize the loss in Kern County, I'd like to call them by name."